Apparatus for recording seismic waves



` -o 0 i I l o 3 /5 JY 25, 1939- i J. P. MINTQN M1124 I APPARATUS FOR RECORDING SEISMIC WAVES Fi1ed Nov. 1'?, 1957 2 sheets-sheet 1 o o o AAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAA Jamm July 25, 1939. J. P. MlNToN 2,157l24 APPARATUS FOR RECORDING sEIsMIc wAvEs Filed Nov. 17, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 gmc/nm Mmm V"ram" 2,167,124 APPARATUS FOR RECORDING SEISMIC WAVES UNITE.' Frio John P. Minton, Dallas, Tex., assignor, by' mesne assignments, to Socony-Vacuum (lil Company,

Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of H New York Application November 17, 1937, Serial No'. l74,976 Claims. (Cl. 181-0-5) 5 presence, depth, shape, disposition and continutraveling surface waves will not be increased in 5 ity of subsurface strata or other geologic strucamplitude. tures in general. Another object of the present invention is to One of the methods commonly used in explor- .provide a method 'and means whereby a pluraling subsurface strata by the use of articial ity of independent traces showing records of seismic waves oo mp'rises the detonation of aimpulses delivered to independent geophones can 10v charge of explosives at or near the surface of be recorded, and at the same time a composite the earth, thereby causing artiflcial seismic record, on a single trace of the same seismogram, waves to be propagated through the earth. Some of the impulses delivered to all the geophones, or of these waves travel downwardly, strike a reany desired number of them, can be recorded. ecting horizon., and are reflected back to a de- It is a further object of this invention to pro- 15 tecting devicepositioned at a point. removed from vide means as aforesaid which can be'assembled the point of generationof the waves, where they as an independent unit that is adaptable for use are recorded. in connection with conventional electric seismo- When a charge of explosive is detonatedat or. graph equipment. v near the surface of the earth, waves other than Other objects, novel features, and advantages 20 those which travel down to a reflecting horizon of this invention, due to its nature, will be apparand backA to the detecting instrument, are reent from thevfollowing specification and accomcorded. Among these are the waves which travel panying drawings, wherein: directly through the earths surface from the Figure 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of an point of generation to the detecting po'int, and electric circuit illustrating the compositor of 25 still others arrive at the detecting instrument this invention. after refraction or diffraction. Considerable' dif-` Figure 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of a culty has been experienced heretofore in refragmgntarymross-section of the earths surface cording the reected waves in a manner that illustrating the paths of the seismic waves that 80 they can be distinguished from the direct travare to be recorded. f 30 eling, refracte or diifracted waves, for in many Figure 3 is an illustration of a portion of a cases, the timeof arrival of these different waves seismogram such as would be recorded with the will be substantially the same, and the record of apparatus forming the subject matter of this the reflected waves .is sometimes obscured by application. the record of the direct traveling waves on the 'As stated above, this invention is directed .toa 35 traces. Additionally, articial seismicwaves -of methodfor ascertaining the time required foi y local origin near a particular geophone may proartificially created seismic waves to travel downduce an effect on the seismogram, 'which also wardly to the upper surface of a substratum of tends to make the recorded reflected waves hard different density and back to the surface of the to distinguish. Further, when an artificial seis- 'earth, the upper surface of the substratuin form- 40 mic wave that is generated by the detonation'of ing the reflected hOriZOn. This methOdM 1S based -a charge of explosive travelsdownwardly through on the fact that, whenever an earth wa've passes `the earths surface and strikes strata of different from one medium to another, a'portion of it is density, a portion of this wave is reflected back reflected, provided thereA is a difference in the upwardly, and it is this portion of the. wave densities or elastic coeillcients, or both, of the two 45 whosetravel time it is desired to measure. Due adjacent strata and that the Wave strikes "at an to the fact that there is only a small portion of angle that is within the critical angle of re' the energy reected from the encountered strata, iiection. the impulse delivered by a reflected wavev to the In Figure 2 there is illustrated -a vertical secseismometer or geophone located at or near the tion through the surface of the earth showing an 50 earths surface will be relatively small compared over-lying layer I of unconsolidated sediments, to that received fronrfthe direct traveling wave. below which is located aemore dense strata2. The present invention has for a principal ob- After aA charge of explosive is detonated at a ject, the provision of a method and means for point jX, at or near but within the earths surface, seismic waves will be propagated in all di- 55 This invention relates generally to the subsurface surveying of geological formations by the use of artificial seismic waves, and more particularly to means and a method for/ascertaining the avoiding the practical diillculties inherentfin theprior practice as above ndted, by the provision of means whereby a reflected wave or waves can be more strongly and characteristically recorded on a seismogram, and by means of which slow rections through the earth. Some of these waves will travel directly through the earth to the detectors or seismometers D located at predetermined distances from the point of origin of the artificial seismic waves. Due to the fact that these waves pass along a path near the surface of the earth, the media through which they travel is of relatively low density and elastic coeiiicients, and as a result the waves are of vrelatively low velocity. Other waves, referred to hereinafter as reflected waves, will pass downwardly to the surface of sub-strata of different velocities, and a portion of each wave will be reflected back upwardly and can be recorded by the detectors or seismometers, D. At the same timethe greater portion of the wave travels on through the more dense and elastic medium to other subsurface strata having still a different velocity. The upper surface of the deeper subsurface stratum will in turn reect still another portion of the wave back upwardly to the detectors or seismometers where it can be recorded on a seismograph; While this discussion confines itself to reflections from different subsurface beds due to increased density and elasticity, it should be remembered that refections also occurred because of decreased density and elasticities. So, both the density and the elastic coefficients lmay increase and decrease at various increasing subsurface depths, and cause reections at the various inter-faces encountered with increasing depths in the earths upper surface. In like manner reflected waves from the various different stratal of increasing depth can be recorded, up to the practical depth limit of this type of survey.

From the diagrammatic illustration in Figure 2, it might appear that 'the direct traveling waves would reach the seismometers sufficiently far ahead of the reflected waves that there would be no interference. This, however, is not the case, for not only is the wave velocity in the unconsolidated'layer low, but the wave does not reach the detector or seismometer as a single impulse, but rather as a sustained disturbance, due to the fact that waves of many frequencies continue to vibrate the seismometer or detector after the first impulse because of their lower velocities. It

is illustrated in Figure 1. A seismometer or detector D is conventionally connected to the input of a standard vacuum tube amplifier 3. Separate amplifiers are used for the waves generated by each detector when several detectors are used, as shown. The outputs of these amplifiers are connected to respective galvanoneters or to independent vibrating elements in a conventional galvanometer 5 of the general type shown in the patents to Floyd No. 1,930,673 and Green No. 1,981,266, which-in turn produces seismograxns of the waves generated by the detectors or seismometers D. The apparatus discussed thus far is conventional, and can be used to record independent traces showing the waves generated by each geophone independently.

Now it is the aim of this invention to provide means whereby not only can records be made of the impulses delivered to the independent geophones, but whereby a composite record of the waves generated by all the geophones can be rel corded on a single trace. This is important beindividual traces to make the time of arrival ofl reflected waves distinguishable. It is under such conditions-that this invention has one of its important applications.

' With reference to Figure 1, by connecting the output leads from the individual amplifiers 3 through suitable high resistances 4, said resistances 4 all being in series with one of relatively low resistance B, which is shunted by a T-pad, consisting of 'resistors 1, 8, and 9, a voltage is taken'from the T-pad which is representative in detail'of the voltage existing across the resistor 6 and impressed on a separate galvanometer vor passed through an amplifier to a separate galvanometer.l A composite record of the waves generated by all the detectors or seismometers mogram is illustrated in Figure 3 in which the is because of these phenomena that the direct traveling waves and reflected waves from shallow reflecting horizons frequently will be mingled and form a continuous disturbance from which it is not possible readily to distinguish .the direct waves from the reflected waves.

- Since the depth of the reflecting horizon is computed from the time interval between the instant of the-detonation of the explosive and the return of the reflected wave to the surface of the earth, together with data on the average velocity of elastic waves in such sediments, it is important that these reflected waves be recorded distinctly, in order that the instant of their arrival can be readily and accurately ascertained. The seismograms are recorded on a conventionalA electrical seismograph, having means provided for accurately registering definite small intervals of time on the seismogram throughout its length.

Since the reflected waves of necessity must travel through a considerably longer pathfthan .that traveled by the direct traveling waves, a

'greater portion of their energy is absorbed, and

the system of this invention functions to increase the amplitude of these-waves without substantraces a, b, c, 'd and e illustrate recordings of seismic waves from five separate geophones, respectively, and trace f illustrates a composite recording of the seismic waves recorded on traces a, b, c, d and e. It is known that reflections from a subsurface Stratum arrive at all Ythe geophones or detectors at substantially the same time;4

whereas, the direct traveling waves and the subsequent sustained disturbances as well as the local disturbances-those to which only one detector may be exposedarrive at different times and also the phase angles of the disturbances between records of two or more detectors on the same spread is more or less indiscriminate. Since these waves arrive at different times, the records they produce on the separate traces are out of phase with one another. g

The fixed resistor 6A, which is in series with all of the resistors 4, carries the total current of all the resistors 4. The instantaneous voltage across this resistor is therefore the algebraic sum of all the instantaneous voltages provided by all the instantaneous currents in all the resistors- 4 flowing through the -fllc'ed resistor 6. It is in this fixed resistor 6 where thecomposite voltage is made up.v All the voltages, even though reduced, are so added in thisfixed resistor. tion .voltages are in phase they will add directly and since the phase angles of the direct traveling WVeS and Subsequent sustained disturbances and Since the reflec- .other local disturbances areY indiscriminate, a k large part will be cancelled out.

Th\e-.net result, therefore, is to make the i'lrst arrival 'of the refiected energy stand out with clear definition with respect to the direct traveling waves and other disturbances.

'I'he composite seismogram of traces is particularly useful in identifying reflections from particular strata, which identification may not have been possible from the individual traces. This renders the individual traces more useful because, after having identified the arrival of the reflections from a particular stratum by means of the composite traces, calculations can be made by referring this information back to the individual traces.

By placing switches S in series with resistors 4, as shown in Figure l, the waves from any number or all of the detectors canbe recorded as a compositerecord on a single trace of the seismogram. By proper proportioning the resistors d, 6, 1, 8 and 9, the above desired composite trace can be recorded simultaneously with the individual traces on the same seismogram without interference between any of the'traces. .In a. similar manner. the invention includes any number of desired composite and individual traces 'on the same record. For each composite trace there is required additional resistors 6 and T-pads. In this event' the switches S are arranged to connect the resistances to the resistances 6, as desired by the operator., I

In the past it has been proposed to connect several spaced geophones in series in order that there may be obtained algebraic addition of the desired reilected waves and algebraic cancellation of the undesirable waves and disturbances. This scheme or method has many disadvantages. For

y example, considerable time .is lost in reconnecting the geophones for a series connection. The operator does not know in advance how many geophones are required to be connected in series to secure the desired results and much time may be lost in' experimenting in this manner. There exist also the possibilities oi' wrong connections, grounds, 'cross-feeding, etc., at the various geophones, and additional connecting wires are needed. Also when the individual geophones are con- .nected in series, the operator no longer gets a record from the individual positioned geophones but secures a composite trace only of the series group. With the new invention, the traces of the individual detectors are retained andV recorded simultaneously with the composite traces. Thus, the present invention, it is believed, is a substantial improvement over the past art.

With this arrangement, the reflected waves recorded by each individual geophone will add algebraically and give a resultant wave of substantially greater amplitude than that recorded on the individual traces.

a given stratum arrive at all of the geophones at so nearly the same time that, when composited as just described, their amplitudes are substantially arithmetically additive on th'e composite seismo-- gram. 'This results. in aA composite seismogram on which the arrival of reflected waves stands out clearly as waves of large amplitude and characteristic form. The composite seismogram is `particularly useful in identifying reflections from 3 posite seismogram, calculations can now-be made by referringthis information back to the individual seismograms. Such waves as direct traveling waves through the unconsolidated layer, local disturbances in the vicinity of a particular geophone, and the like, are notyhowever, composited in this manner. These/waves, traveling at low velocities approximately paralleling the earths surface, arrive at the respective geophones at different times, the intervals vbetween arrival at the respective geophones being substantial with respect to the cycle time of the wave.v 'I'hus the algebraic addition of amplitudes effected by the compositor of this invention does not amount to a substantially arithmetic addition of amplitudes, as it does in the case of reflected waves. f`

By placing switches S in -series with the rebination of a pluralityr of geophones, means formaking separate records of the reactions of each of the geophones and additional means for simultaneously making a composite record of the reactions of the geophones without interfering with their separate records.

2. In a system for seismic surveying the combination of a plurality of-geophones, means for making separate records of the reactions of each of the geophones and additional means for making a composite record of the reactions of a predetermined number ofthe geophones without The reflected waves from f interfering with their individual records, said additional means comprising an f amplifier and recorder connected to the circuits of the geophones the reactions of which are to enter into the composite recording and which coupling is so arranged as -to permit the reactions of the geophones -to be transmitted to said amplifier but to prevent said reactions from passing from one geophone circuit to another. ,4 l

3. In a system for seismic surveying the combination of a plurality of geophones, means for making separate records of the reactions of each of the geophones and additional means for making a composite record of the reactions oi a predetermined number of the geophones without interfering with their individual records, said ad. ditional means comprising an amplifier and recorder connected to the circuits of the geophones,

,the reactions of which are to enter into the composite recording and which coupling is so arranged as to permit the reactions of .the geo-l phones to be transmitted to said amplier but to prevent saidl reactions from passing ofrom one geophone circuit to another and means in said amplier circuit tov vary the -input to the amplifier without altering the total impedance in the 'input circuit.

4. In a system for seismic surveying the combination of a plurality oi geophones, means foi making separate records of the reactions of each of the geophones and additional means for making a composite record of the reactions of a predetermined number of the geophones without interfering with their separate records, said additional means comprising an ampliiier and a recorder connected to the circuits o! the geophones' through a plurality of resistances, one for each geophone circuit. said resistances all beim! connected through a secondary resistance to ground and vone sident each geophon'e circuit heinz connected to ground. the input connection i'or the amplifier being taken from between the ilrst mentioned resistances and the secondary resistance to one side of the ampliiier input and the other side thereof being grounded.

5. In a system for seismic surveying the combination of a plurality of geophones, means ior. vmaking separate records oi the reactions oi each of the geophones and additional means for mak.- lng a composite record of the reactions of a predetermined number of the geophones without interfering with their separate records, said additional means eomprisins an amplifier and a recorder connected to the circuits oi the geophones. the reactions of which are to enter into the composite reeordins and which coupling comprises a plurality of resistances one connected to 5 each geophone circuit and all having their opposite ends connected through a secondary resistance to ground. bein: takemacroes said secondary resistance by means o! a resistance bridge the values o! the i0 legs oi' which canhe varied to vary the input to the ampliiier and there vbeing a third resistance in series with the ampliiler input which is variable with the resistances of the bridge so as to maintain constant the resistance in the ampli- 15 iler input circuit.

` JOHN P. MINTON.

the input to the ampliiier 

